Hatred at First Sight Iron fey
by Daughter of the Moon Goddess
Summary: Ash and Meghan meet at a party in the Summer Court. Meghan is to go live with the Winter Court, despite Ash's hostility.Can Meghan break down his icy walls and proves he remembers love?
1. Chapter 1

**This is a fan fiction beginning at the party where Ash and Meghan dance in Iron King. In my version of the party, they are in the Summer Court. Oberon makes a contract with Mab to have Meghan live with the Winter Court, seeing as Titania, his wife, hates Meghan and her husband for having an affair with her. So Meghan is sent to the heartless Unseelie Court in order to be protected against Titania's rage and to be somewhat educated in how to defend herself against her for when she returns. She is to be taught in sword fight by Ash, who already has an opposed opinion of her, seeing as in the beginning of Iron King, she and Puck are chased down by him. He despises her for reminding him of Ariella, but slowly starts to accept her and even sort of likes her… Is this a romantic solution to the hatred spread between both the Summer and Winter courts? **

**Please review so that I know I have some people on my side! **

**By the way, I do not own the Iron fey Series , the plot, or any of the characters :/ **

Chapter One: Hatred at First Sight

**Ash POV**

He stalked the room, swept through it like a leaf in the wind. His steps were measured and drawn precisely with an elegance he himself knew nobody, apart from his queen, could match. Glances were cast upon him with the vigor of the immortal Nevernever fey. Some of them were filled with lust – these were the young ladies of the Winter Court, others with forced respect – the males of the Unseelie Court. But others, and that many, were consumed by a hunger for his blood on their hands – this, of course, was his enemy, the Summer Court.

Right now, the King and Queen of this particular court sat proudly upon their thrones of intertwined flowers and roots in the center of the party. But this was no joyful celebration amongst the royalties and their people, for such a thing did not exist between the two courts. The two realms had been brought together for the purpose of one person who before had seemed insignificant, but now had a value of importance; Meghan Chase.

_Her head bobbed in front of him, as she ran with clumsy steps. She was so close, yet so far ahead. He was close enough to catch the scent of human on her – the faintest touch of iron and the modern world, a tinge of what mortals referred to as deodorant, and inevitably, fear. Such a stupid, worthless thing to drown in. Fear! Why did a human like her let herself be absorbed by this backstabbing emotion? All it did was get in the way of her instincts that told her to fight, but instead she ran cowardly away from a predator like himself! As he closed in on her, he heard a surprised gasp escape her, and then she suddenly spun around to face him. This was shocking, but she would receive no pity from him, if that's what she thought…. _

He did not kill her that day. Although it would have been for the best, seeing as she was only half fey and would probably shrivel up in fright and insanity from this world some time soon, anyway. So really, it would have been merciful if he had ended her life that day. And then there was Goodfellow. His face still tainted all his nightmares of losing Ariella. Seeing Meghan and realizing she looked so alike his old love only made the strain to hold back his suppressed fury more difficult. That's why the sudden decision not to kill her was both surprising and frustrating. He did not know what had held him back from delivering the final blow – or any blow for that matter- but he knew that mysteries such as that one would unravel themselves eventually.

Again, he caught the scent of the half breed, and walked closer to her. He now felt the gaze of the entire party rest on him as he came closer, and new that the coldest of those gazes belonged to his mother, Queen Mab. _They think I'm toying with her and her emotions like I've done to so many young women before. Maybe I will. Maybe I will trick her into believing I have any affection for her. _He grinned his killer smile that he knew made womens' knees weak, and sauntered forward.

"Care to dance?" He said calmly, although any creature that had lived in the Nevernever would have been able to detect the partially hidden mockery in it. But the half breed certainly didn't, and her eyes were wide in amazement and in fear for seeing him here. She gulped, and he smiled in a way that he was aware was highly seductive. _This is going to be easy._

"Um, sure I guess," she half stammered at him. Only then did he notice what she was wearing. It was a deep purple dress that did wonders in illuminating her curves. He shook his head. He would _not _think that way about a Summer princess, not even with the glaring Goodfellow over in the corner by the food table. Because looking at her in _that _way would imply betraying his court and the few beliefs he had left.

They both made few remarks during the dance, and Ash stuck to observing the half breed in secret ever so often without the girl having a clue. She was too caught up in staring seemingly unabashedly at his face in awe, but also badly hidden fright. She was, no doubt, thinking about him almost murdering her.

After a few minutes of somewhat elegant dancing, Ash began to feel that even though he was hardly ever overwhelmed by any sort of emotion, the discomfort caused by his glaring mother was becoming too great. He meant to step away and leave the Summer princess alone for now, but realized that she was about to say something and so impatiently, he waited.

"You heard then," she started, "that I'll be living at your court for a while. With my own guards, naturally, but still." She sighed, and it caught the Winter prince off guard. It was the first indication to the fact that Meghan might be slightly opposed to her leaders. Maybe he could use that to his advantage.

"You'll do fine," he sneered slightly too much and ignorant as she was, she still noticed.

"I'm not complaining! It's just that I believe my father, Oberon, is a coward for not being able to protect me here. I mean, Titania doesn't have any control of me or him and he could make her swear an oath to not hurt me. It's just unnecessary to send me away. And on top of that, I have to go through training. It'll be tough." She sighed once more.

"I'll train you." The words slipped from Ash's mouth before he had time to think. _What the hell was he saying, declaring an oath to train her? Now he couldn't take it back. This was an oath, and they had to be completed. _

Later, when he and the Unseelie Court departed from the Seelie Court whom bore taunting smiles on their lips, he pondered over what he had said. He hadn't promised to train the half breed for any certain period of time. All he had to do was train her for a day or two, and then when she failed miserably, as he could easily predict she would, he could disappear. Easy. He glanced at the sky that bore signs of falling snow. Something told him that this was the start of something. Something that was going to be interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Beautiful Idiot

**Meghan POV**

Several days after the contract between Oberon and Mab had been made, the arrangements were followed through. On one of the coldest, most frosty days in the Winter Court, Princess Meghan was sent by her father's servants to the hostile realm. Although she forced a smile onto her face, Meghan's face was nothing but bitter. She tried to make it look as if she found living with the Unseelie Court ok, for the sake of her new found (and only, really) friend, Tara. Tara was one of the Summer fey, but any of her glares sent the Winter faeries rushing in the other direction. She was not someone you could easily scare off, and Meghan admired that, trying to be just as fierce.

But that was difficult job when you were only a half breed and scared to death of the vicious citizens of the Winter Realm. They showed her nothing but disrespect and hatred in her presence, and the royal family was far worse! At that party days ago when things had seemed somewhat all right, Meghan had been formally introduced to the lethal queen, Mab, and her two remaining sons apart from Ash. Sage was the oldest out of the three, and by many means the most mature and polite, for he lingered in the shadows with his yellow eyed wolf during the entire evening. Rowan, on the other hand, was a bit of a pervert and made Meghan downright uncomfortable. She avoided his seductive eyes as best as she could, and hoped that he would leave her alone, which he rarely did.

Prince Ash. Meghan closed her eyes slowly, and tried to hide her small and honest smile. Despite the frightening fact that the youngest son of Mab had tried to behead Puck and her, she still found him attractive. Her smile faded. She knew that it was wise to stay away from him. After all, as Tara had reminded her twice now, the Winter Court was nothing but bad news. And Ash was the baddest news possible.

But that hadn't stopped her from double checking her mascara and eye liner before she left the Summer Realm that morning, or wearing a beautiful emerald green dress that she personally found stunning. And it hadn't made her any less nervous, either.

So when the carriage stopped in front of the Winter castle, Meghan felt as if somebody had poured butterflies down her stomach. She tried to hide her nervousness by making remarks to Tara who only looked at the castle with her gloomy glare. However, Tara quickly straightened her back when out of the elegant building walked Ash, whom was looking over the entire scene with a bored glance. At first, Meghan thought Tara was just being polite to the royalty, after all, it was expected, but then she smiled gently, and she realized it must be something more_. I'll ask about it later_, she thought.

The royalties of both the courts began going through the necessary politeness, with Ash staring icily at Tara and Meghan. After that, training began directly.

Ash led them through the palace's gardens and on the way they passed one which was filled with frozen statues. After having the prince speak of the story behind the frozen people, Meghan realized with a shudder that Mab and the Greek legend Medusa had more in common than she feared. Both had a fascination for living statues.

When they reached the training grounds, which was really just another garden, Meghan stopped short and stared as Ash pulled out a sword towards her and waited for her to accept it. "Seriously?" she questioned doubtfully. It sounded more human than she had wanted it to.

Ash's icy, deep eyes looked into hers for a second and her breath hitched. "Why do you think I'm handing you a sword?"

Meghan struggled to recover, and saw Ash's smile turn into a grimace. She heard him mutter "Summer fey" under his breath and felt dirty and unappreciated. She took a deep breath, and ran her hand down the sleek sword that was covered with ancient designs.

"Ok, but I don't think I can practice in these clothes. I mean, I'm wearing a dress, after all." She looked up to seek agreement from Tara, but to her wounding shock, only found a sneer on the Summer fey's face.

"Come on, Meghan," she taunted her. "Did you come here to dance or something? Dresses are for balls, not sword fights." Tara herself was appropriately dressed for training in elegant black pants and a tank top.

Ash nodded in approval of Tara, which stunned Meghan even more. _Are_ _they in love or something?_ The thought burned scars into her brain, before she told herself she was being stupid. Of course they weren't in love. They were in opposite courts for God's sake!

"Okay, I'll do the best I can with what I've got," she declared bravely, and her heart took a flop when Tara and Ash shared a sneer. _This is going to be Hell._

They began with several warm ups, like running a few laps, which was difficult for Meghan because of the annoying dress that kept getting in the way. However, when she started swinging her sword, that's when the real trouble started.

She was clumsy when she held her sword, despite the fact that it weighed close to nothing and that she had a good hold of it. When she tried doing what Ash and Tara showed her, she felt hopeless and in more than one occasion, clumsy. Their shared glances didn't help much either, and only added to her frustration. After about twenty minutes when they started practicing blocking attacks, she decided she'd had the last straw after Tara began laughing.

"I've had it!" Meghan yelled, and exited the gardens with Tara's giggles and Ash's slight snickering echoing behind her. They had been nothing but rude to her, knowing that she was a beginner, and on top of that, human. Suddenly, she could no longer hold back tears, and they streamed forward with her not having the slightest care in the world until she almost crashed straight into the Winter Court Queen.

Meghan looked up innocently into the frosty monarch's face and saw the unhidden fury embedded there in her features. She saw the Queen raise a single, pale hand, and closed her eyes in fear. Whatever the punishment was, it wasn't good. As she shut her eyes, she felt the first layer of ice start to creep over her skin.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey! Sorry about the late update, I was busy and even though writing fan fiction is fun, I prefer writing my own stories. Please review so that I know how I'm doing **

**/ Mininski :D **

Chapter Three: Savior or Hunter?

**Ash POV**

Prince Ash smirked at the Summer fey before him, who only offered a faint seductive smile back. Tara may be from the Seelie Court, but after Ariella's death, he and her had every once in a while secretly "dated" as humans called it. But despite the fact that the two were from completely different courts, they were the perfect match: both were secretive, kept to themselves, and had the habit of hurting humans in their selfish games. Just a while ago, Tara had helped Ash seduce a poor human girl who lived at the edge of forest until she fell depressed in his absence. Maybe that's what drew them together – there seemed to be a magnetic field surrounding the both of them.

Both of the fey were intelligent enough to realize that they would never date officially, or even stay together very long. Not only because it was illegal for the Summer and Winter fey to date, but also because Tara and Ash liked to keep a distance from each other.

Tara grinned right before she blocked one of Ash's bows cleverly with her own sword, then used her weapon to aim it with full force at his shoulder. Ash felt the point of the sword hit a bone with a sharp thwack, but merely used the pain to his advantage and sent his own sword in the direction of Tara's arm. It made contact with her fragile skin, breaking through the surface and building a small pile of blood against the cloth of her shirt.

They both smiled at the same time, and let their blades wander away from eachother. It was so nice to be alone without the frustrating half breed bothering them with her complaints and weaknesses. Speaking of the Summer Princess, where was she?

Ash cast a quick glance around the garden of frozen roses they were standing in, and detected an odd looking blob in the corner furthest corner away from them. It looked like one of Mab's ice sculptures, and was he imagining things or was that golden hair below the surface. He raced towards the sculpture, with his heart in a wild dance without him acknowledging why. All he knew was that he had to get to that sculpture.

As he came closer, he heard Tara's soft footsteps thud behind him in a gentle rhythm. He heard her gasp, "Meghan!" just as he placed one hand on the sculpture. Meghan had only been gone for a few minutes, and yet she had gotten in trouble already. He would be irritated, if not a wave of worry was dragging itself through him. As his palm lay on the slick ice, he met Meghan's panicked eyes, and felt his odd desperation grow. The air suddenly wavered around Meghan, and gradually the sculpture began to melt. The seconds seemed to drag until Meghan finally came gasping for air out of her frozen cage.

The girl stood there for several minutes, panting, while he clothes hung onto her body in a soaked manner. When she seemed to be recovering, he stepped away, aware only now that he had been holding onto her arm. Ash's features turned grim as he heard her gasp, "Thank you."

Ash's eyes narrowed. Saying thank you was one of the biggest insults possible in the Nevernever – it offended every single creature in it.

Meghan must have noticed his change in manner, for she attempted to apologize immediately. "Sorry," she stammered nervously, but she was human and humans' apologies never mattered.

Ash turned to Tara, and said icily, "Take her to her room." Tara nodded, and her puzzled expression changed into a bored one. He saw the confusion in her features, and knew the way he was treating the Summer Princess must seem odd.

**Meghan POV **

Meghan sat down on her bed feeling hopeless. Now what? One minute, Prince Ash had been all concerned about her, the next he was treating her like she was rat or something! The way he behaved around her made it sound as if he were a player or at least a heartbreaker. Meghan sighed, and fell onto the pillows behind her. She wasn't sure how she felt about the Winter Prince – he certainly had his charm but he was almost worse than his brother Rowan.

A loud knock sent the girl in the direction of the door. As she opened it, Meg spotted a redcap with razor teeth glaring at her and holding forth a package wrapped in expensive paper. She looked at it for a second before taking it, and the redcap disappeared down the depressing corridor with icicles lining the walls.

Meghan walked into her new bedroom, and sat down on one of the royal looking couches, with the package in hand. She glanced at it, and spotted three words that made her heart beat faster.

_From Prince Ash. _


	4. Chapter 4

**I know that all of these chapters are really short, sorry about that. The problem is that I only have time to write in the evenings, and then I'm usually tired. **

**Anyways, I'm doing a project on trying to get as many reviews as possible. I'm aiming for 100! I know this might seem a bit naïve, but like I said, it's one of my goals, and as we all know, goals are always slightly challenging. So please, tell your friends about my story. Please give me some criticism, too! I like reviews, but good feedback is really appreciated! **

**Until next chapter,**

**Mininski :D**

Chapter Four: When the Unexpected Knocks on Your Door

**Meghan POV **

Meghan stared at the package, holding her breath. It was wrapped in a smooth, perfumed surface with the words in neat handwriting written on it:

_From Prince Ash. _

And when she bent down over the object to take a closer look, Meghan noticed that there was something else written in the same delicate handwriting:

_I thought you needed cheering up after your little incident with Queen Mab. _

Meghan shuddered at the ominous words. She _had_ run into the frosty queen, and seen the vicious look in her eyes before she had turned her into an icicle. _No way_ did she ever want anything like that happening ever again.

Meghan hesitated for one second, before carefully prodding at the edges of the fragile wrapping paper. She managed to get the first layer off without damaging the material inside, and then saw with a wrinkled forehead that there was another layer of paper inside. She slowly unwrapped this layer as well, with a growing impatience, only to find that there was yet another layer underneath. This pattern continued for several more rounds of unwrapping, until finally, the Summer Princess picked up the present left by the sexy Winter Prince.

She held her breath, awaiting for whatever could be lying underneath all that wrapping paper. She picked up the present, scrutinizing it from every angle and every shade of light, until she came to a puzzling conclusion.

It was a leaf.

Meg sighed, and let the worn leaf flutter in spirals to the ground. She sulked off into the furthest corner of her room, standing there in misery for a few seconds. Ash was just leading her on. He didn't like her, or have any positive feelings towards her at all, besides the glee of teasing her with this nonsense. Meghan huffed, and thought_, Well, from now on, I'm going to forget about him._

"Hey, princess, are you just gonna stand there looking all emo for the rest of your life?"

Meg spun around abruptly from the familiarity in the stranger's voice. And yes, it was truly Puck. Puck, also known as the joker and troublemaker Robin Goodfellow, and caused much disaster to the royals of the Nevernever. Puck, who had been there through the good and the bad, had now showed up to get her out of here.

"Puck!" She exclaimed, and hugged him fiercely, which sent the two blinking from surprise. They had never hugged before. What was she thinking? Meghan stepped away, but couldn't help noticing how awkward the atmosphere in the room had become. "Um…" She started, but her fiercely blushing sent her into a period of silence. Puck began to recover, grinning in the way only he could, and look at her with an amused expression.

"So," he spoke slowly, "The court so bad it sent you running into my arms?" He grinned, and continued. "Well, I can't possibly deny that I am somewhat of a prince charming, but I have the feeling something's wrong." He flashed a smile, displaying pearly white teeth.

Meg bit down on her lip, and said, "Ash and Tara, my friend, have been treating me like I'm some sort of a pest. They keep looking at me and then at eachother as if they're sharing some private joke about me." Some of her self control burst when she said the last part, all the time thinking about Ash's gorgeous face. But she gathered her senses, reminding herself that Ash was the one who had sent Puck to her in the first place, or maybe that was just to get rid of her faster?

Puck was gaining a seriousness in his posture, and he drew a hand through his flaming red hair. "Don't worry," he said firmly. "You can't possibly get out of this contract now, anyways. The deals been made, and the words spoken between the royalties say strictly that you have to stay here until you are strong enough to fight off Tatiana if she were to ever challenge you or turn you into a rabbit or something. So the situation is live with it."

Meghan met his eyes with her raw determination that seemed to surprise him because it was a side of her that she rarely let people see. "I am not staying here another second," she said almost aggressively. _Not over my dead body_." Puck eyed her rage filled demeanor with nervousness.

Puck held his hands up in surrender. "Ok, chill, princess. I'm not your enemy here, so don't aim any lasers in my direction. But you know you've got to stay here whether you like it or not. A contract was made, and it has to be followed through. If it helps, I'll speed your training up a bit with some training of my own. It would be rather cruel if I left you alone for a long time with ice boy."

Meg sighed, but knew he had a point. "OK, so now what? I mean, where are you going to live?" A thought struck her, which sent her blushing again. "You're not going to stay in here, right?" The thought of sharing her room was more than plenty awkward. But Puck only shook his head.

"Only in your dreams, I'm afraid. I'll have a room sorted out with the servants. On second thought, ice boy probably dealt with all of the practical stuff already. He was the one who sent me, you know."

_You don't have to remind me_. Meg nodded, but still looked troubled.

"Hey," Puck quickly stroked the side of her cheek. "I'll help you get through this, ok? In the end, I'll make all of this worth it. You have my word on that."


	5. Chapter 5

**Ok, so as you already know, I'm continuing this 100 reviews project, and am really looking for a lot of reviews. So R&R! Anyways, I know there has been little if any romance so far, and I guarantee there will be some in this chapter…. **

**/Mininski **

Chapter Five: When the Unwanted Returns

**Ash POV **

_Why in the world did I send a request for the jokester to come here? He's a mess, a scandalous mess and only gets on everyone's nerves. Plus, he is the one responsible for … for Ariella's death. _

Ash winced and leaned closer to the sleeping Tara by his side. She lay there with a fixed, happy look on her otherwise glaring face._ She loves me. _The realization hit him with full force, and for some odd reason, guilt filled him to the brim_. She loves me, and the only thing I want to give her is a night in my bed. _Remorse kept him in a sullen mood while he pondered over his choices_. Well, naturally I don't love Tara, so should I just lead on, or should I tell her the truth_? The Winter Prince was wise. He knew that even if he broke the news to her about not having affections for her, she still would come back for more of what they had done tonight. It was inevitable. Tara was a stubborn a girl, not a stupid one. She had probably realized already he didn't love her, but was willing to stick around because she either didn't care or she thought she could change him.

_I'm becoming more and more like Rowan,_ Ash silently laughed in his head. Leading girls on, making them think he had feelings for them – an impossibility, since he would never love again.

But then, why the mess around the Summer Princess? It wasn't as if he loved her, or ever would. But there was a certain … attraction between the two of them, and Meghan seemed drawn to him like a moth to a flame. But perhaps it was just lust, and not true passion. But even though love between the two courts was forbidden, lust was not. So then he had nothing to worry about.

Of course, she had been making even more of a nuisance of herself than usual, which disturbed him. Sending the horrendous Goodfellow had been the only way out of the girl's jungle of emotions. _What if I don't want out? _Ash jumped slightly, startled at what his mind had suggested. His grip tightened around Tara's shoulders, and he felt her move slightly as she began to wake up. _What if I want to be involved with her life, her problems? _He immediately discarded the thoughts with a shake of his head. What was he doing, thinking like this? He had tried so hard to keep his emotions at bay since Ariella, and now they were gushing out of him like blood from an open wound.

"Hey," Tara murmured, words soft like silk. "What are you thinking about, this early?"

Ash quickly kissed the top of her head, and matched her gentle tone. "Nothing," he said.

But Tara was, as he had suspected, quite intelligent. "You know I love you," she said seductively, gripping a hold of his jaw with one hand, and kissing his lips hungrily at the same time. Tara was as good as ever at being a distraction. She knew he had been thinking about the Summer Princess, and was now trying to lead his thoughts away from the half breed. And it was working.

"I love you," She repeated, and as he looked at her, Ash saw his own reflection in her chestnut brown eyes. And he _was _dazzling, dazzling enough to have the beautiful, famous Tara stare at him in wonder.

"I love you, too." She smiled from pure happiness. _The first lie of many. _


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry! It's been a harsh week, the first one back in school. Lots of projects have been filling up every free second in my life, so I haven't had time for an update. So here it finally comes! This chapter will have the perspective of perhaps an unexpected person. Three guesses. Yes, it is Puck :P. One thing I added to the story was that now Mab has some psychic powers. I know that I have broken the rules before, like how oaths are made, but this detail is just added to make it more interesting. **

**Anyhow, I think it's great that whenever I check my Gmail, I always see that someone has added me to their Favorite Author/Story List, especially since this is my first fan fic and all. But please review! I'm still far away from my 100 reviews goal, and I want to get a whole lot closer! **

**Thanks for reading my story :) **

**/Mininski **

**Chapter 6: What Fell Apon Me**

**Puck POV: **

Yuck. How the hell could the Winter fey _survive_ on this stuff? I raised a daring eyebrow at the redcap servant standing in the corner who seemed to be enjoying this just as much as me. He glared back at the boisterous trickster that I was, and gave a threatening grunt.

Much of the court had treated me the same. I wish I could say the same about the royals. The Winter princes had been one thing, going all dagger-against-your-threat on me, with the exception of the youngest one, whom had sent me in the first place. But Miss Ice Queen didn't need a dagger to make her threats clear. Lately, she had discovered that she could link her ice powers to her psychic ones, and now instead of actually turning me into an icicle, she gave me misereable thoughts of being one for the rest of my days unless I behaved in her court. She also, by use of her totally-unfair-that-she-has-them-powers, let me know that I wasn't to "try anything on the Summer princess".

That caused a bit of confusion in the seldom used space that is referred to as my brain. She didn't think I had the hots for Meg, did she? Because even though I had been through the good and the bad (especially the bad) with her, I had never thought of her in …. _that_ kind of way, if you know what I mean. Technically, I _have _been stalking her for sixteen years, but that doesn't mean anything, does it?

And why does the queen care? Suddenly a thought sent my chewing the disgusting porridge to a halt. The royals weren't planning a wedding between Ash and Meg, were they? For some reason, that sent my heart beating furiously. No way. No way could they make _my _Meg marry that… that… that _Ash. _He was bad for her in about five million ways. First of all, he was a player who's only interest in life was being pro at sword fights and getting into girls' pants. _Reason numero dos:_ The guy had still not gotten over Ariella, even though in human years, she had died about 70 years ago.

Ariella. I closed my eyes, and allowed myself for a brief moment to remember her. A girl with white blond hair, who moved elegantly through a room as if she were built out of shadows. Someone to remember, to love, to mourn.

I shook my head and snapped out of it. I had to move on, or I was going to get all moody like ice boy. And no way was I going to be like that.

I pushed the plate aside and returned to my thoughts of the marriage. Why would the royals want something like that? I mean, I knew that the so called Iron fey were closing in on us, but did that mean the royals wanted to unite their kingdoms to destroy the Iron one? No, in the Nevernever, love between the two courts would be impossible. It was laughed upon and detested by every single faery.

It had to be something else. My thoughts buzzed around my brain like vicious bees, when suddenly, a blond head appeared by me. I looked up at Meg, surprised to find her here. On most days, she stayed inside her room acting all depressed about ice boy when she wasn't training with him. In a way I pitied her. She had only been here for about two weeks, and already had she fallen for the icy charm of a certain prince. And not only that. He seemed to enjoy being friendly to her one second, and then a downright jerk to her the next. No wonder the girl was confused. She was a mouse stuck in a cat's nasty claws.

"Hey," Meg said casually, as if she hadn't been spending the last two weeks as a water fall of tears. She popped down into the seat next to me. I glanced at her, and grinned my famous Robin Goodfellow grin. This caused her to smile back vaguely, which was better than nothing, considering that she had been depressed lately.

Meg started to say something, but then bit her lip. A brief blush crossed her face quickly, and then she took a deep breath. I waited for whatever she had to say with all the patience I could summon. "Um, you don't think that maybe Ash likes me or anything, does he?"

I stared back at her before I could recollect myself. Dear God. She didn't think Ash was in love with her, did she? Because he wasn't. He sure wasn't.

"Well- " I began, lacking my usual confidence. I was interrupted, however, before I could say anything else.

"Oh, I was just wondering, since he asked me out on a date."


	7. Chapter 7

PART TWO 

Ok, so now I'm changing the story a bit by making it first person perspective, which I hope will succeed more into displaying the emotions of the characters, just like I did with the last chapter. Don't forget to tell me what you guys thought about the last chapter - your reviews are really helping me improve :D. Anyhow, I hope this chapter will be worth all the waiting you guys had to do, because I'm giving a whole-hearted effort on this one.

:) /Mininiski Chapter 7: Bitten & Smitten With Love

**Meg POV**

Back in the human world, where prom was like the thing and so was getting kissed a couple times, I hadn't been too concerned about any of those two things. Not because I was the drop-dead-gorgeous-type who had every guy swooning in my presence, no, in fact it was the exact opposite. Meghan Chase had never kissed, made out or dated any guy in her lifetime. How could I when all I was to the vicious cloud of sabotagers in my school (also referred to as my classmates) was a boxing bag that got hit every day with bitchy comments? And at the times I wasn't bullied or mocked at, I was being blankly ignored, since of course being half-fey, people couldn't remember me.

I lived through that, though. After all, I had Puck, but in reality, he had been assigned to be my friend in the first place in order to see to it that I wasn't being attacked by a dragon or whatever. So maybe our friendship wasn't as real as I wanted it to be. But hey, he was the guy, trickster or no, whom had stood up for me in all situations.

But I had seen the look passing on his face when I mentioned my first date with Ash. He looked like I had gone up and slapped him or something. Then he carefully concealed the expression with one of amusement, but it was too late. I had already seen what he thought of me and Ash, and all the lies in the world couldn't cover that up.

_Was_ there an Ash-and-me? I remembered quizzing over how Ash felt for me the last couple days, and though Puck had mistaken my moody behavior for a depression, I was more frustrated than anything else. I knew that the Winter Prince felt something for me, why else would he bother toying with my emotions so much? And was it just me, or did he sometimes look insecurely at me? As if he couldn't make up his mind about something, and that something I was hell bent on finding out what it was.

I quickly dabbed a bit of light golden eye shadow onto my eyelids so that it was barely visible, but made my eyes look awake and alive. I wasn't the type to fascinate around makeup; however, it was one of the things Puck had brought for me from the human world in order to cheer me up. It had been a failed attempt, of course, since I had previously only owned a lipgloss that was only used at parties and such.

I tugged anxiously at my green top, hoping it matched my eyes. I knew that the Winter fey preferred modern clothing to dresses and stuff, but I was still nervous if I was dressing_ too _casual. The last thing I wanted to do was make a fool of myself in front of Ash. Wait a sec - what if this was just another of his heartless mind games?

I swept my hands over my face, shielding me from the Winter court for a second. No. I didn't like being caught in Ash's spiderweb. I didn't like his way of being a jerk when he was training me, and then acting ok-ish later on. But I had to believe something good would come out of all of this.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror for a sec, and walked to the door. Might as well get this date started, then. A wave of nerves brushed through my stomach, stumbled up my throat until it felt like I was no longer breathing, and then I slowly exhaled.

*

**A/N: Ok, so this is normally where I end the chapter, but since I did this bio presentation today in class, and was super nervous before it, I didn't really have time for an update before. So now I'm adding more content to this chapter as a sort of an extra sorry-I-forgot-to-update-chapter :) **

**/Mininski **

I looked up over the table, and let the smell of burnt coffee soak through my senses. A diner. A normal, nothing-above-the-usual-diner, but it was a reminder that I had not been home for a long time. I glanced at Ash, dressed all in white, and wondered if this was on purpose. _He must know I'm homesick_, I realized with a start, not noticing when he must have picked up on this small detail.

Still, diner or no diner, this was a date, and the fact still left me the exact opposite of serene. Ash leaned forward over the old table, and spoke softly, almost a whisper, "What do you want to order?"

I took a deep breath, and looked without really seeing at my greasy menu. "Um, the chicken sandwich?" It came out as an odd, strangled sound from my throat. But Ash merely nodded, as if though I had made a wise choice that no one else could match.

"Same," he spoke, and for a split second, he sounded so human it almost hurt. I could see us, two normal, human teens, eating at a diner in the middle of nowhere, and tomorrow, we would go to school like normal teens did and do homework like normal teens did. But then I blinked, and thought, _In another life,_ the thought lingering so long it brought forth more sorrow that I had intended.

In that very second, something burst forward out of my heart, leaping faster than my pulse. It clawed it's way through me, scratching at the insides of my palms, dragging it's hands against my throat. And then it calmed as soon as it had exploded. _What the hell was that? _

And then I realized, when I suddenly picked up similiar feelings of shock from Ash. He had felt it, too. And whatever it was, it had bonded our auras together. Which might sound insane, but was perfectly true.

Oh my God. If I thought I had felt anything for the Winter prince before, it certainly had been heightened to a whole different level now. _I loved him, and the reason we had this invisible bond was because he loved me, too. _

During the time I had been thinking, Ash had risen silently from the table. He was about to step away when I stopped him.

"Ash." My voice was worn out by the shock; broken into a hoarse manner.

He looked at me, and then I saw tears sparkling in his eyes. I tugged at his arm, and picked up one, solid thought from his mind:_ Ariella. _Puck had told me about her, all the time with a pained expression. She was this goddess of a person who had entered their lives, and left from it almost as quickly. Not voluntarily, since death had stripped her of her life; of her soul. And now she was gone.

"I know," I spoke silently, knowing exactly what he must be thinking. "She's gone, though. From what Puck told me, she would have wanted you to move on. Not live in the past, even though everything is dreadful to you."

My words seemed to have little impact on Ash. But he sank down onto the chair, as if he were a drowning sailor realizing he would never reach the top of the waves. He was sinking,and that fast. "I don't want to," he whispered, dragging his words with him slowly, forming a barely coherent sentence. "Not again." Then he shook his head with determination, and said between gritted teeth, "We, the Winter fey, are not supposed to fall this easily to emotions. We do not crumble to foolish things such as feelings. That is for the mortals, the ones who get bored with their lives so easily, they make it complicated instead."

I felt brave because Ash obviously didn't, so I drew strength, and took his hand in mine. "Some people say that love is the most cruel thing on Earth. That it destroys everything, and I do mean everything, in it's path. But it can also be beautiful. Intensely, painfully, beautiful."

Ash looked up at me, looking like a murderer confessing to his crimes. "Meg," he spoke, whispering in fright.

"I think I might just love you."


	8. Chapter 8

**This update is coming in a bit late since I had a bio test and a history presentation to review and memorize for. So that's why it's taken me about a week to get this chapter up online, but now that it's here, I swear it''ll be good :D ******

**So read and review! ******

**/Mininski ******

**Chapter 8: What doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger******

**Ash POV: ****  
><strong>  
>The first thing I did when I rolled out of bed the next morning was check whether the connection between me and the Summer princess still existed. I closed my eyelids, and felt the bond like a flickering candle in the darkness. Yes, it was still there.<p>

And it remained there for the rest of that day, whether I liked it or not. From the moment our training in battle started, Meghan and I could have an entire conversation that was secret to the rest of the world. But we didn't. At first, the girl tried to reach out to me, gently, and with serene thoughts. But I put up a mental wall of ice between us, and Meg's frustration grew until it was near unbearable.

Tara, in the meanwhile, stood in the shadows alone, becoming more and more curious as the silent exchange between Meg and I did not go unnoticed. But it was only after our training pass had ended that she approached me, and tugged at my elbow.

"Ash", she murmured, "Something wrong with the ignorant half-breed?" And instead of agreeing, I cast one look at Meg, who sent a wave of emotions tumbling towards me.

"No," I spoke after a while. "I'm just feeling a bit tired, that's all. Let's take a short break, shall we?" Both young womens' eyes widened, since admitting your faults in the Winter Court was almost like comitting suicide.

As I walked away, I sensed light footsteps behind me, and since no train of thought followed it, I assumed it was Tara. I spun around, once at my bedroom door, and saw I was correct.

Tara stood there, blinking back tears. Shocked, I put up a fingertip to wash the salty tear from her cheek away, but she brought up her left hand and slapped it feebly away. She spoke with a broken voice that had fury buried behind it like a row of graves. "You love me. You said you loved me. _Me_. Not the ignorant child of a girl who doesn't know left to right!"

With a soft, but pained voice, I said, "I think I meant more like a friend, Tara. Not anything else."

She stumbled away from me, abashed, and red eyed. "So all I was was a friend to you, then?" She narrowed her eyes, still crying, and stabbed her finger at my chest. "Well, I got news for you. You don't _have_ friends. But you've got me, and you love me. "

I stepped out of her range of rage, and spoke quietly. "I did once. I was friends with Robin Goodfellow, up until Ariella died. So there you're wrong."

Tara stared disbelieving at me. "You'll never get her, you know that right? The courts have plans for both of you lovebirds, and none of them are going to do your relationship any good." Her voice dropped to a hushed whisper, aware that we were gaining an audience. "So walk away, why don't you? Walk away from her while you still can. And come back to me, " She added, smiling slyly. "I'm sure you'll learn to love me the right way one day."

"I'm sure I will," I agreed, to the benefit of the crowd around us, whose interest in us was increasing. _"If_ I chose to." Tara's face dropped like I had just slapped her.

Then she gave me one long, vicious glance, and hissed, "The two of you will never be together. I'll see to that." Then she whirled around, and stormed off in an elegant manner in the other direction, leaving me at loss for words.

Recovering, I glared at the ogres, redcaps, and other fey around me. "Well, what are you waiting for? You have duties to attend to!" All of the workers headed off, reluctant to leave the gossip scene.

"Prince," A voice rasped at my feet. I glanced down, meeting the hungry eyes of a redcap.

"What is it?" I said icily. The redcap licked his lips eagerly, which probably meant he was going to deliver bad news.

"The Queen wants to see you," he said in a formal tone. "She says it's in regard to the Summer princess stay at the Winter Court."

Worried, but not showing it, I glanced with seemingly little interest. "Then I shall speak to her." I followed the servant down the corridor, wondering what catastrophe my mother had caused now.

*

"Please," I spoke confusedly, "Can you repeat what you just said?"

Queen Mab, proud and powerful, sat upon her throne of icicles, unaffected by my puzzlement. She did not seem to understand that what she's saying is going to change my entire future, or at least the remainder of it. "Despite the fact that you are my son, I will make no exceptions for you," she said flatly. "However, since this is a vital part to my taking care of the Winter Court, I shall explain it to you again." She leaned over and touched one of the icicles by her throne. "Our courts are growing weaker, both the Summer and Winter Court. The only way we can survive against the Iron realm is that we fight, united, against it." Here she took a dramatic pause, and then spoke again. "But we are weak to Iron as it wounds us, and so we overpower it. And the only way we can do so is for you and the Summer princess to create an offspring that is strong against iron. That is what the prophecy speaks of." Now she glanced at me, her eyes icy spears, displaying her power. "So you and the Summer princess must marry to save our courts."

I stared at her. "My Queen, that is...that is..." I was at loss for words, which seldom happened.

"Do you want to save your court, your kingdom, or not? This is the only way."

I stared at her, wondering over the choice I would make. I had only recently acknowledged that I loved Meg, but that didn't mean I wanted to marry her!

"Make your choice, prince, for you have until tomorrow."


	9. Chapter 9

**This is coming in a bit late, due to that I recently had a cold :( , and was too tired to write until now. I am planning to maybe write a Vampire Diaries fan fiction after I am done with this Iron Fey one, so please voice your opinions on this by reviewing :) It will defianetly put a smile on my face. **

**/Mininski aka Daughter of the Moon Goddess **

**Chapter 9: Decisions, Decisions**

**Meghan POV: **

The grave expression on Ash's face told me something was wrong. I spent ages trying to annoy the info out of him, and when he finally confessed to what was going on, I sat there, numb from his words. Marriage? Offspring? Impossible. Why were the courts expecting this of us? I was barely seventeen, for crying out loud. Then of, course, age didn't matter to them, nor did our opinions on the situation. All they craved was permission to put our futures into their decisions. _That's all_, I thought with as much sarcasm and bitterness I could conjure up.

"How long?" Ash looked up. "How long do we have to make the decision?"

"Well, the Queen only required my voice on the matter. But we have until tomorrow to decide."

Oh right. I was a nonessential half breed human. How could I forget? "Tomorrow?" I exclaimed as this news dawned on me. "That's ridiculous!"

"_You_ try telling Mab that," Ash said stonily. I glared at him, but knew he was right. No way did I have the power to confront the Queen of Icicles about this.

"Anyways," he said icily, "I vote with whatever you're deciding on this."

_Gee thanks_, I thought bitterly, giving me all the responsibility like I'm supposed to be grateful for it. I thought Ash was done with being unfair towards me. I guess we weren't done with that adventure, either.

When the Winter Prince saw my expression, however, his face became softer. Some of his icy expression seemed to melt away into one that was far more serene. "Look," he spoke, taking hold of my hand. The action surprised me. Only a few days ago, Ash was sometimes acting as if I were a complete stranger, and now he was grabbing my hand? It was nice, but took some time to get used to. "I'm not abandoning you, or anything. I'm just saying this is going to play a big part in your future, and you know that for fey and for humans the future are two different things entirely. That's why I want to support you in whatever choice you make."

"Ok." I swallowed the words I was about to speak, and considered. What was the right answer here? Throw away my entire future to save the Nevernever or disagree with the deal? What should I prioritize? Myself or the kingdom of Faery? Should I care more about my own happiness or see to it that Faery had two united, peaceful courts and no more battles between the two? Could I let the Nevernever destroy itself as the Iron Realm ruled the land in order to secure that I was not miserable in an unwanted marriage?

Decisions, decisions. So easy for one person to ask another, but so difficult to make. I looked up at Ash's eyes desperately, hoping to steal strength from them. Only then did I realize his eyes were storms, storms reflecting the battles of life and what things were necessary to sacrifice in order to survive. And then I knew. Of course I knew. The answer stood right before me.

I called for the troll guard, standing meters away from us. "Guard," I spoke evenly, and looked him straight in the eye, never wincing from his watery gaze or his ugly appearance. "Tell Her Majesty that the deal is sealed."


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey, this is not an additional chapter, but it is me saying good bye to _Hatred at First Sight_ for now. It was fun writing the plot, only I don't have that much time to develop the story to it's full potential, and that's why (in combination with too much school work), I've decided to pause my writing for now, and focus instead on my new fan fic. This new fan fic is called _Torn on Rose Thorns_, and is in the Vampire Diaries genre, although it does not follow the original plot to any great extent. If you enjoyed reading my Iron Fey fan fic (which I hope you did :D) then I wonder if someone is interested in taking over and adding a few chapters to it? It would be fun to see the plot continue :) **

**/Mininski **


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello readers! It's sad to say goodbye to Hatred at First Sight, but there is another author who is willing to continue the story … : ) And if you/your friends are into Vampire Diaries, then please check out my fan fic on Facebook and share the news : .com/pages/Torn-on-Rose-Thorns-A-Vampire-Diaries-Fan-Fic/137411546388106**

**Thanks :D **

**I appreciate it if you were to share this page with your friends, so that I can continue my story writing : ) **

**/Mininski/Moon Savior/Daughter of the Moon Goddess **


End file.
